Tourists kidnapped in remote northeastern Ethiopia
March 2, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — At least a dozen Western tourists were kidnapped in remote northeastern Ethiopia, a spectacular yet barren expanse of volcanoes and ancient salt mines where bandits and rebels operate, diplomats and local businessmen said Friday.
The tourists — between seven and 10 French in one group and five British citizens in another — were seized Thursday in Dalol, 800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa, according to a businessman and a tour operator who work in the area. They asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
As required by the Ethiopian government, the groups were traveling in the Afar region with armed guards. The region is not heavily traveled because it’s so remote, but the other-worldy landscape draws adventure travelers.
Ethiopian state media confirmed the kidnapping Friday night and said Ethiopians were among those missing. The television report did not give a number of missing.
In a statement in London, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett confirmed that five of the missing were “members of staff, or relatives of members of staff, at our embassy in Addis Ababa.” She said officials “are doing all they can to ensure that the situation is resolved peacefully. We are also coordinating with other governments.”
The British Broadcasting Corp., quoting unidentified government sources, said there was a “national security dimension” to the disappearance. It did not provide any further details, and neither the British Foreign Office nor the Defense Ministry would comment on the broadcast report.
Britain was sending a 10-person crisis team to Ethiopia, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office said. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said it appeared French and British nationals were being held in separate groups.
Dominique Gautier, spokesman for the French Embassy in Addis Ababa, arrived Friday in Mekele, the regional capital of the Afar region, but said he had no details.
A French television crew that was also traveling in the area and whose members had been out of touch turned up safe in Mekele on Friday, but they were not among the missing tourists, said Samson Teshome, head of Origins Ethiopia, a new tour agency specializing in Afar. The missing Westerners were also believed to be clients of Origins, but company officials would not comment on that.
Bandits and a small Afar rebel group operate in the Afar region, which is known for its difficult terrain and roasting heat. The average annual temperature is 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 Celsius), but the mercury often soars much higher. The area is where the famous Ethiopian fossil of Lucy was discovered in 1974.
The tour operator said the tourists were clients of Origins Ethiopia, a new tour agency specializing in Afar, and company officials told him that they have been unable to contact the tourists.
Origins Ethiopia officials did not immediately provide comment.
The tourists left Mekele on Sunday for a two-day drive to Hamedali, a remote village that is the last staging post before visiting the salt lakes, the operator said. Then they went on a two-hour drive to Dalol to visit the salt mines and were supposed to return to Hamedali.
AFAR REBELS
Adding to the danger is a small rebel group, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF), which has been active for more than a decade. The ARDUF – sometimes known as Uguguma (or Ugogomo, meaning Revolution in the Afar language) – was founded in 1993, bringing together three existing Afar organizations. It kidnapped some Italian tourists in 1995, later releasing them unharmed.
An earlier rebel group, the Afar Liberation Front, had fought against the then communist government of Ethiopia in the 1970s and 80s.
Another Afar insurgency was mounted in 1991-94 in neighbouring Djibouti by the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD). A splinter faction continued to fight until 2000.
OPPOSING BOTH ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA
The ARDUF seeks the creation of an independent Afar territory, which would include areas of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. There is disagreement on whether this would be a single sovereign state or an autonomous region. The front is firm, however, in opposing the existence of the separate state of Eritrea, as the creation of that country in the early 1990s split the Afar homeland. (In Eritrea, Afars dominate the southeast of the country, including the port of Assab.)
After its formation, both Ethiopia and Eritrea sought to suppress the ARDUF. Following the outbreak in 1988 of the border war between the two countries, the ARDUF took Ethiopia’s side and declared a cease-fire in operations against Ethiopian forces. Some ARDUF leaders joined the Addis Ababa government but the front as a whole failed to reach agreement and it has continued its secessionist campaign.
In 2003 the ARDUF joined the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (http://www.hebret.com), an umbrella of various opposition parties and groups.
The same year the front issued a warning to foreigners not to enter the Afar region to demarcate the Ethiopia-Eritrea border (as it opposes the existence of any boundary that divides the Afar people). It has declared its continuing opposition to the governments of both countries.
(AP/ST)